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Ken, thanks for the words of encouragement! I have all the removed parts, I always hang onto everything until I'm convinced the job is done right. Something isn't lined up properly is the bearings don't contact the race at all with the wedding ring in place. I talked to Dave at Recommended Service here in SF and he gave me some good advice.

Dave removes and installs the whole affair as a unit with the axle so it is kind of like a "cassette". The front wheel is in fine shape so I can concentrate on the rear wheel. I have to take the whole thing apart and start all over again. I will check the numbers on the old and new bearings to compare against as you suggested. I really don't want to pull it all apart again but I don't want the wheel to grenade on me either. Just gotta back up take a look at what I did wrong. Thanks for your help, I'm sure I'll need it again before I'm done.

twist wrote: Is it possible the replacement bearings are that much different? (BMW bearings)

Anything is possible twist.
Your wheel must wobble like a mofo with the axle nut tightened, if you can 'see' the cone isn't touching the shell.

Perhaps more important than the width of the bearing shell, is whether the bmw cone sits deeper in its shell than your old bearing.

If the cones seat with the wedding band removed, and the band is the same as you took out (like you said) then I can only see the bearings being different, as the problem.

Can we see a photo of old and new bearings?

Edit, Ken, the split bearing was someone else's idea. I can't remember who's, but if no-one claims in 48 hours I'll take it.

ME 109 wrote: Edit, Ken, the split bearing was someone else's idea. I can't remember who's, but if no-one claims in 48 hours I'll take it.

Well, damn! I kind of had my eye on that honor myself. In the spirit of . . . (Oh hell, I don't know what kind of spirit to cite here.) In some kind of spirit, how about you taking the honor in the entire southern hemisphere as well as all of the former Soviet Union and I'll take it in the northern hemisphere (minus the former Soviet Union of course)?

And if somebody else comes along and claims it, we both agree to gang up on him. (Or her.)


Ken

OK, thank you everyone for the help with the rear snowflake bearing replacement project yesterday. I left it a lone and went back to it this morning after the posts here and after talking to a A+ mechanic here. I took it all apart to begin again. I didn't get too far. I discovered a mistake in assembly, so much for putting back exactly the way it came out. I am quite humbly admitting I discovered a wedding ring behind the bearing on the drive side making it 2 wedding rings in the assembly, one on each side. After examining several schematics I am sure that only one wedding ring belongs in there and only on the Left side, (opposite the drive side). Correct me if I'm wrong. I am fortunate that I have a place to bounce these things around.

Ken in Oklahoma wrote:And if somebody else comes along and claims it, we both agree to gang up on him. (Or her.)
Ken

Done deal Ken!

The old second wedding band trick! who'da thunkit?
Now, which wedding band is the right one?

they both appear to be the same size. Side by side that is.

twist wrote:they both appear to be the same size. Side by side that is.

If you have a micrometer, check their thickness, you may have two the same. Saves installing them twice...

twist wrote:they both appear to be the same size. Side by side that is.

.1mm will make a difference. Start with the bigger one.
If they are both exactly the same size, ask the postman which one to use.

the post man, funny! Once again, it's the least complex thing causing the problem. The most complex part of this equation is my brain getting in the way of simplicity.

We haven't even started talking about assessing the resultant preload when the wheel is back in place and the axle nut is tightened.
We will need feedback from you as to your findings.
Basically before the axle nut is torqued up, you should be able to feel some wobble in the wheel.
To take this to the extreme, when the axle nut is way loose, there should be a fair bit of wobble.
What you don't want, is for all the wobble to disappear completely before the nut is fully torqued.
You know how tight is 'right' when when tightening your axle nut. Ideally, you want just a 'poofteenth' of wobble left when the nut is fully tightened. A poofteenth is almost zero. If you have less than that, you are running dangerously close to pressing the cones into the shells, which will smoke the bearings in short order.
The job of the precise length wedding band is to prevent the cones from being forced to run hard up against the shells when the axle nut is tightened.
The other job of the precise length wedding band is to prevent the cones from being held too far away from the shells, as exaggeratedly demonstrated by having two wedding bands in there.
It really comes down to .1mm or less to be perfect.
It is much better to be slightly loose (wedding band too long) than it is to have the wedding band too short.

Having said all that, you may well find that your wedding band is the perfect length, and all is well.

I present my exam paper to the board for marking. I don't wanna D orright!

Edited to add, the correct size wedding band will prevent the cones from being pushed into the shells, no matter how tight the axle nut is. (hope I don't lose marks for that!)